


Sing! Sing! Sing!

by SonjaJade



Series: The Rook and the Bluebird [9]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/M, Winter, Winter Solstice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-02
Updated: 2016-12-02
Packaged: 2018-09-03 17:31:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8722699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonjaJade/pseuds/SonjaJade
Summary: Maria asks Braeda to take the kids for a few hours so she can wrap up the Midwinter gifts without them peeking.  He can’t think of anything he’d rather do than that.





	

“Just an hour or two,” his wife had asked him.  “I’ve got to get the presents wrapped and hidden, and today’s the only day I’ve got time!”  
  
“Not to worry,” he said with a kiss to her cheek.  “I’ll take care of it.”  
  
He went immediately to haul out the buggy from the closet and gathered his youngest, Margie, from the floor.  “Henry, Ruby!  Get your boots and coats on, we’re going out for a little while!”  
  
Ruby came rushing from Henry’s room, pouting.  “But Daddy, me and Henry just got our castle moat finished!”  
  
“It’ll be here when we get back!” Braeda countered, watching as Ruby folded her arms over her chest and turned with a jerk before stomping off to her own bedroom that she shared with Margie. He looked down at the baby in his arms.  “You don’t mind hanging out with me do you?” he asked, grinning.  When she giggled in response he couldn’t help but to give her a little kiss to her pudgy cheek, which made her giggle even more.  
  
He checked on Henry, obediently tugging his galoshes on and grabbing his scarf and coat from the peg on the wall.  Then he took Margie to change her into her snowsuit, watching Ruby stomp and slam and throw a fit as she set about getting ready to go.  
  
He changed Margie’s diaper first, commenting to his middle child, “Y’know, I can send a telegram to the Holly King’s house and tell him to bring you a dozen rocks for Midwinter if you wanna keep acting this way…”  
  
Immediately her demeanor changed.  “No Daddy, don’t!  I’ll be good!”  She forced a smile onto her face as she tugged on his shirt.  “See?  I’m happy again!  Happy, happy, happy-”  
  
“Alright!” he said, exasperated.  “Just please get your boots and coat on so we can get going, okay sweetie?”  He patted her on the head and she blessedly scurried off to get dressed.  He heard Maria in the living room speaking sternly to her, likely helping her with the buttons on her coat.  At 5 years old, big coat buttons were sometimes still too much for Ruby to handle.  
  
“All set, Dad!” Henry said from the doorway.  “Do you have Margie’s baby pack ready?”  
  
Braeda zipped Margie’s suit up, replying, “It’s by the door- will you check that she’s got enough diapers and a bag for the dirties, please?”  
  
Finally, after restocking the diapers, they were ready to go.  Braeda kissed Maria goodbye, then he and the children left, walking toward town.  
  
“Where are we going?” Henry asked, his breath puffing little clouds as he spoke  
  
Braeda was prepared.  “I thought we’d go down to the square and get some snow cream and watch the skaters on the ice.”  
  
“I wanna go skating!” Ruby cried.  
  
Braeda thought about that a moment.  “You and I can go together if Henry watches Margie for a bit.”  
  
“But I wanna skate by myself!” she whined.  “Henry can skate by his self!”  
  
Braeda closed his eyes for a moment.  “Honey, we’ve been over this.  Henry’s almost eight years old, you’re still too little to go skating without someone with you.”  
  
Ruby harrumphed, her blue eyes furious.  Her steps became forceful and angry once more and he stopped the buggy on the sidewalk.  Henry turned and looked questioningly over his shoulder at his father, but it took Ruby a few moments longer to stop and pay attention.  
  
“Maybe we should go to the telegram office, after all.”  
  
She wailed and made a scene, sobbing and pleading with him to change his mind, only straightening herself up when she agreed that one more outburst meant rocks from the Holly King, no snow cream, and no skating.  
  
“Maybe I should put you in the buggy with Margie,” he suggested.  She insisted he didn’t need to do that and Henry politely kept his remarks to himself about Ruby acting like a baby, though his eyes danced with the teases that he refused to utter.  
  
At last, they rounded a corner and the square came into view.  The market row had been dismantled for the winter and a large ice rink stood in its place, complete with bright banners waving in the light breeze and a huge decorated tree in the middle.  Off to one side, a trio of alchemists stood at a snow cream stall, making ‘snow’ inside a glass room and then bringing it out to mix into tasty treats for the skaters and other townsfolk.  
  
The shop fronts were all richly decorated with animated dolls and brilliant baubles and tinsel.  There was a man dressed as the Holly King standing near a Midwinter themed carousel was spinning, ringing a bell near a bright green bucket that said ‘Help the Needy’ in big white letters.  Passersby threw change into it and he waved to them all with a cheerful, deep laugh and a greeting for the season.  
  
On the opposite side of the carousel from the Holly King was a group of singers on risers, song books opened in their gloved hands as they sang carols while people rushed here and there around them.  Margie waved her arms at the sounds all around her, squealing around her pacifier.  
  
“Well, what do we do first?” he asked Ruby and Henry.  
  
“Let’s go on the carousel first,” Henry said.  “That’s something we can all do together!”  
  
“But I wanna skate!” Ruby wailed.  
  
Henry calmly reminded her that the Holly King was _right there_ , and that she probably should just go along with them if she wanted to avoid a sock full of rocks.  “You can go skating right after, I’ll even let you and Dad go first!”  That seemed to make her happy and Braeda patted his son on the back and gave him a nod of appreciation.  
  
They went around on the carousel three times before finally moving on to the ice rink.  He and Ruby skated until Henry motioned for them to come back.  Margie was beginning to fuss and he couldn’t seem to settle her.  Henry handed her off and made sure he had permission to go skate himself before leaving.  
  
Braeda checked her diaper, made sure she wasn’t sweating from her outerwear, offered her a bottle of water…  Nothing seemed to soothe her, not even her big sister’s silly faces.  
  
Then she balled up her little fists and spit out her pacifier, fat tears rolling down her cheeks.  “Sing!” she cried.  “Sing!  Sing!  Sing-sing!”  
  
Braeda blinked.  She’d said a few words before, mostly Mama and Dada, Bee and Enny, but ‘sing’ was a new one.  “You wanna hear the pretty singing?” he asked Margie.  
  
She seemed happy that he understood, her hands gesturing toward the singers near the carousel.  Then it dawned on him.  She couldn’t hear them over the crowd at the ice rink.  
  
“Hang on, sweetie, let me tell Henry where we’re going.”  He waved his son down to the edge of the rink and told him they would meet him near the carolers when he was finished, and then made their way over to where some benches had been set up for people to sit and listen.  
  
Margie was elated.  Braeda stood her up on his knees and held her as she bounced along to the music the choir provided.  Her enthusiasm garnered a few wide smiles from them and the conductor came over and let her shake his baton around a bit.  He was an older man, tall but balding and a well groomed mustache at his lip.  After a few songs, he gave the singers a break, then asked Margie and Ruby what they would like to hear.  
  
Ruby tapped her chin in thought before requesting “Der Weihnachtsmann”, and he sang a little of “Jingle Bells” to Margie to gauge her reaction.  When she began to dance in Braeda’s lap, he winked at them and told them to give him a moment.  
  
The chorus reassembled on the risers, and he told them about the slight change in song order.  Henry joined them, red faced from racing a classmate on the ice and carrying a cup of hot chocolate his friend gave him as his prize.  The conductor blew on his pitch pipe and the choir tuned up, then they began first with Ruby’s request.  
  
 _“Morgen kommt der Weihnachtsmann!_ Tomorrow comes the Holly King!  
 _Kommt mit seinen Gaben!_ Comes with all his gifts!  
 _Äpfel_ , _Nuß und Mandelkern!_ Apples, nuts and almonds!  
 _Alle kleine Kinder gern!_ All the little children like them!  
 _Schokolade lieb ich sehr!_                         Chocolate I love so much!  
 _Alle schöne Dinge!”_            All nice things!  
  
There were several more verses, one talking about wanting the Holly King to bring an entire army to play with, and then one talking about the real reason for the season- being with family and loved ones on the longest night of the year.  Margie clapped and cheered when they began to sing “Jingle Bells”, and by the time that song had finished, they were all ready for some snow cream.  Braeda dropped a couple of cenz into the donation bucket before wheeling the baby buggy over to the snow cream stall, and then they strolled the streets, looking at the pretty shop windows with their lively midwinter scenes.  
  
They returned home just before dark, ready for something warm to eat.  Maria took Margie and changed her while Braeda tended to helping Ruby with her coat and boots.  A few minutes later they met at the kitchen table for dinner.  Maria kissed him, whispering her thanks before sitting down.  
  
“So!  How was your adventure?” she asked as she lifted a forkful of mashed potatoes to her mouth.  
  
“Margie said a new word!” Henry said excitedly.  “She said ‘sing’!”  
  
As if on cue, Margie tugged her bottle from her lips and squealed, “Mama! Sing!”  
  
Braeda nodded in Margie’s direction.  “She had a fit over the carolers.  Even got them to take a few requests!”  
  
“La lalala laaa!” she sang, her arms outstretched, head thrown back and eyes squeezed shut.  Maria clapped and laughed.  
  
“Looks like we have a star in house!”  
  
Braeda, Ruby and Henry agreed.


End file.
